Internal war brewing within IM, says Yasin

NIA BOOKS BHATKAL AGAIN

NEW DELHI: A split like situation has emerged in Indian Mujahideen with its operatives in India hugely miffed with their Karachi-based chief Iqbal Bhatkal because of his lavish second marriage with a local woman who, they believe, do not conform to Islamic ways, claims Mohammad Ahmad Sidibappa alias Yasin Bhatkal, a counterterror official familiar with the interrogation said.

“According to Yasin, Iqbal Bhatkal splurged a huge amount of money on his second marriage with a Pakistani woman in March this year. He believes that the money spent on Iqbal’s second marriage came from jihad funds provided by the Pakistani spy agency ISI. Besides, Iqbal’s second wife doesn’t wear a veil and spends a lot of money on her clothes, shoes and jewellery. It has not gone down well with other key IM operatives especially who are in India. Therefore, the India-based oepratives have started directly dealing with the ISI rather than going through Iqbal,” he said.

HT could not get any independent corroboration claims made by Yasin.

Yasin and one of his asso ciates Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi were picked up by Indian counter-terror officials from Pokhra in Nepal and formally arrested at the Indo-nepal bor der on August 29. Yasin has been charged by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of planning and executing at least half a dozen terror operations in India from 2008 onwards According to counter-terror offi cials, Yasin has claimed he was staying in Pokhra from March 2012 and since then he never put his foot in India.